Leave your brain in the lab

Rating: Null/10 (26 August 2005)

Any film directed by Michael Bay (think "The Rock", "Armageddon", "Pearl Harbor") is going to be loud, brash and even over-the-top and "The Island" is no exception. This is his first venture though into science fiction (the movie is set in the USA of 2019) and he has fun with some antiseptic habitats, medical laboratories, towering city structures, and futuristic forms of travel, ensuring that sooner or later everything is blown apart with the maximum noise and bits. You might be reassured to know that companies such as Microsoft and Nokia are still thriving in 2019, although it could just be product placement.
The plot - such as it is - features Ewan McGregor as Lincoln Six-Echo and Scarlett Johnsson as Jordan Two-Delta who look human enough, but soon find that their world, the island and, everything they thought they knew is not what is seems. Appealing support roles come in the form of Sean Bean (why is the bad guy usually a Brit?), Steve Buscemi (always wonderfully quirky), Djimon Hounsou (a few more lines than in "Gladiator"), and Michael Clarke Duncan ("The Green Mile").
We've seen all the elements before: replicants on the lose ("Blade Runner"), implanted memories ("Total Recall"), adults in child-like sexual discovery "Demolition Man"), a man meeting his clone ("The 6th Day"), and several scenes (especially the final escape) are taken straight out of "Logan's Run". But it's all put together with a certain panache and is entertaining enough if one leaves one's brain in the lab.